I had applied for a debt consolidation loan online at many sites. One site I applied at was creditit.com this website informed me that the would disclose only specific details about my loan to other loan companies in which I met there criteria for the loan i was applying for. After about a week I had received letters of regret letting me know that citibank and capital one were unable to approve me at this time based on my limited amout of credit (I'm only 20 years old). I had kind of given up on the idea of getting approved for a loan when I received a phone call from a man named Robert Whitman claiming to be calling from Fremont Lending Group based out of Overland Park, Kansas.
He claimed that i had been fully approved for a loan through there company which works with private lenders who lend them the money to lend to us. He then explained to me that in order to recieve my loan I would have to abide by there terms and conditions. One of the terms was that I would need to make "collateral payments" towards my account in order to establish that I would make good on my payments. He explained it as if I was to want to buy a car I couldn't just go buy a car I would need to put money down on the car which is credited towards my loan.
Well, my mother works in law and told me that it is illegal to ask for money for loans and asked my permission to call these people. She had them fax over the terms and loan agreement to her and after she reviewed the laws and conditions stated that the contract was in fact ligit and that it was my decision whether or not I wanted to go on with the agreement. Of course needing the money I went ahead and Money Grammed the money to a Caroline Manera in Sarnia, Alberta Canada who they said was in charge of finances for the private lender.
This is when things started to go bad. I called Robert Whitman back about sending the money and gave him the transfer number. He informed me that someone would be in contact with me about how I wanted to make payments (paper, electronically, etc.) and that my funds would be direct deposited within 24 hours of the money being received. So the next morning I got a phone call from an Edward Fields who claimed to be the head of customer service for the company. He informed me that there had been a problem with my loan and that the private lender had re-evaluated my credit and was requesting an additional collateral payment of $950.00 which I had already sent $950.00 the day before.
He kept assuring me that my money was fully insured and blah, blah, blah. And that I would receive my funds within 3 hours of the second payment being sent. So I borrowed $950.00 from my boyfriend and send it out to them. Again calling Edward with the control number he informed me everything was arranged and that I would receive my funds within 3 hours. After 3 hours had passed and still no funds had arrived I called Edward again, he informed me that my bank had probably just put a hold on the money and that I needed to let them know to receive the transfer.
So I did that, and the next morning at around 7 am I received a phone call from the bank letting me know that there was never any attempt to transfer any money into my account. I then again called Edward Fields who pretended to be confused by the situation and put me on hold while he called accounting. He came back on and said that the private lender had illegally pulled out of the agreement and that Fremont Lending was planning to take full legal action against this lender. He then asked for me to call him back in one hour.
I waited the one hour and called him back and he informed me that they had found a new lender who was fully aware of my situation and was willing to loan me more money then I had originally requested but they were requiring 18 months worth of collateral payments which I had already paid 10 months worth of collateral payments. Edward then said that since they felt bad about my situation that they were willing to pay $970.00 credit which was a courtesy from them and that I would just need to send an additional $970.00 and I would then receive my funds within 24 hours of that money being received. I told him No, that I just wanted my money back. He then told me that I would receive my money back on the 23rd day of February because my return had to coincide with there monthly billing statement. This is when i started to freak out.
I then left work immediately got the loan agreement and went to meet with my mother, and her attorney. We went over the contract and he stated that they had broken there agreement in the contract by agreeing that I would have my funds with in 1 business day of abiding by all there terms and conditions which it now had been 2 business days. We then called Edward Fields on speaker phone and began asking questions. My mother than ran the company through accurint which turned up nothing on that company within the US.
We then asked in which state there company was licensed and he kept claiming they were licensed in the state of Kansas under Fremont Lending Group. I called the Secretary of States office in Kansas who confirmed no such business licensed under that name in the state of Kansas. We then ran the address of the building they claimed to be and there name didn't come up anywhere in the registry, when we asked what suite they were in Edward claimed they were in suites 401 and 402. Thats when my mother informed him we would be filing suit against there company and hung up on him. Our attorney then informed us that although they had broken there agreement that legally we couldn't file suit until after February 23rd if the funds were not received.
I then left there offices and got on my phone. I called 411 and asked for any phone number of any business in the building I just wanted to know if they did in fact reside in that building. I called to companies the first was on the first floor and was unaware of anyone on any other floors since they don't venture past the first floor. The second number I called I got the receptionist and I began to ask her if she had ever heard of the company she quickly said hold on and then connected me to a man. I was confused and I told him that I was wondering if he knew of a company within the building and he asked me if I was looking for Fremont Lending Group.
This of course startled me and he quickly told me do not send them any money! I informed him that I already had and he began to tell me a story of a man named Shane in Massachusetts who had googled the address and found this companies number and had called wondering my same question if Fremont Lending resided at this address. The Gentleman on the phone was from Massachusetts as well and quickly began to chat with Shane. He then told Shane that since he was on the 5th floor in 502 that he would just walk down and meet the people of this company just to make sure it was legit before Shane sent them $3000. This is when the man went down to the fourth floor and realized that 401 is a construction company and 402 does not exist! I then contacted the overland police department who informed me that they had received dozens of phone calls and e-mails regarding this company which does in fact not exist in the state of Kansas!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Do not send them money, they are still operating, answering phones and contacting people! Be aware this is a scam! And that they told the same thing to a poor girl in Omaha as they did me about the private lender pulling out! They are claiming to be giving personal loans, mortgage loans, debt consolidation loans! If they contact you please contact the Overland Police! Thanks
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